February 28, 2011

THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR

"One of the most elemental human rights [is] the right to belong to a free trade union."

-- President Ronald Reagan, on the Solidarity union uprising in Poland.

We've been hearing this quote a lot lately, due to the situation in Wisconsin, and it's being used to prove that the Tea-Baggers poster-boy was a union supporter. Unfortunately, I don't think it's being correctly applied, here.

Remember, he busted the air traffic controllers union by firing them all after they threatened to go on strike. In an amusingly ironic twist, National Airport in Washington D.C. had its name changed to Reagan National Airport a few years ago. Also, Reagan was a two-term president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Anyway, I only mention it because Reagan wasn't a big fan of unions (most Republicans don't) as he got older and more conservative, and only said what he said because it was a union uprising in a communist country.

I don't know, am I right, am I wrong? What do you think?

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